Dock progress

Looks like in all the family visits I forgot to include a few pictures of the dock Seth and I built a few weekends ago out at Bear Island. The area is aptly named as we saw at least one bear if not two every day. The dock is up and very steady, we are headed back down to add stairs to the dock and to the island itself and to prepare for next summer's big adventure of cabin building. Building the dock was actually really fun, learning all the terms for the beams and creating something from just wood is so cool, I have to admit I was totally hooked and really excited to see what Seth had planned every day. We floated all the wood for the following day over from Dad's beach to our rock outcropping at high tide and Seth had a great itinerary so we would stay on schedule. Now, hopefully it is all there and as we left it when we go back in two weekends.

Is it fall already?

Word is there is termination dust on the mountains here in town, we wouldn't know as the rain hasn't let up in ages, can't see them yonder peaks anyhow. The bumper crop of raspberries had to be picked and frozen so that the rain wouldn't rot them. I can safely say that the ducks are in heaven though, boy do they love water in any form.

Lately Seth and I have been having some fun. Last weekend was the big family lamb roast for Grandma's 87th birthday. Lots of the family was up at the farm, kids, dogs, chickens, geese and meat was everywhere. Seth and showed up a bit late in the morning so the geese cleaning was already in the works but we did each get to clean one so I spose we were lucky, goose fat makes your hands softer than you could ever imagine, just in case you ever have a bad chest cold Gram saved the lanolin to wrap in flannel for your lungs. Than to the kitchen table where giant pieces of lamb were drying, processed that and parceled it out for the family and the cousins roasted lots to perfection for dinner. Than off to heard up the cows, cousins new sheep dog was incredible and really did his job, Dr. Seth turned two little bulls into steers while four grown men cousins held the little fellows down, thanks to the new video camera M & G gave us for birthday we have some awesome footage. Next up roast lamb dinner that was incredible out on the lawn than an easter egg hunt with 1,000$ in them!! Seth had an egg with a $100 dollar bill in it, lucky. Some eggs had slips of paper entitling the bearer to a fruit bar, fancy bar soap or 8 seconds of money grab. In case you haven't experienced money grab it is incredible. Money grab is a gallon bucket with a t-shirt duct taped around it, you get 8 seconds to stick your hand in the sleeve and pull out as much cash/ coins as you can, such a good time, it can only be given justice in a video, which you know I captured with the new device.

A few days later Seth headed off to Denali for a backpacking and pack-rafting trip with another cousin and some friends, the pictures look amazing, no sign of humans for years it looks. I hung around town and prepared the old art room for kids and spent time with more cousins and the grandparents out at the farm. Overall a great time.


NOW!!!! Now, it is 10:18 pm and Seth is using a shovel to pull up the carpet in the baby's bedroom. I bought some paint tonight and tomorrow is painting and new wood flooring. While the whole house shakes from Seth's hard work I will update you on the happenings and try not to feel lazy, I will also simultaneously cook up this little baby who is now 2 lbs and can open and close his eyes!!! I can also poke him and he will poke back, he knows upside down and right side up as well as light and dark!! Yes, only the fattening up to do until we meet the little pecker in November, can't wait!!!!!!!!!!! I hope he is calmer at night than his father, if not I spose a lot will get done around this little farm when he is older.

Hope all is well with you and wherever you are there is summer sunshine as I hear August is the hottest part of the summer somewhere besides the upper one.

Here is the Old House Seth and I have been working on. The inside is done and the outside is being excavated and landscapes this coming weekend. I just created a website to show our potential renters so I hope it works, just in case you are interested here is the website: dearmounoldhouse.blogspot.com

And now here is something you will really enjoy:

New improved outside and deck



Old outside house and old deck




New improved kitchen



Old Kitchen




Bedroom #1 old



Bedroom #1 new



Bedroom #2 new



Bedroom #2 old



New living room



Old Living room




New Bathroom



Old Bathroom

Clearing the Island

This last weekend was spent doing some/lots of manual labor, the type where you shimmy up a rope and than proceed to clear brush for 2 entire days. Meghan was good enough to help us, lots of help!!! It rained one whole day making things a bit more tricky, especially when you are sliding brush down a gully to the ocean!!! What everyone needs in this case is an amazing friend who works hard and has the positive attitude that never fails. In the end we did an incredible amount, created 270 degree views for the cabin and clearing a way to build a dock and stairs to the site this coming weekend. Ginger did not care for the rain, she did not care for the sheer cliff ascent but when it was time to descend she laid very carefully in a backpack as we lowered her to the rowboat, now that is an impressive dog!

Ginger served dual purposes that weekend as a bear dog and bomb sniffing dog. We found this rocket shell on the beach and after calling the police, than the troopers than the coast guard as instructed on the can warning it was a bomb! We were told to just through it in the trash, it was mostly likely not armed anymore. So as usual with anything that floats in on the tide, we are storing it in the outhouse.


Along with bombs and chainsaws we saw lots of seals, otters, eagles nesting in the woods above the cabin site and two river otters, a very rare creature I hope to sight again.

A little trip to the Bahamas

Well, we are back from a two week trip to the Bahamas followed by a week in Washington with the Andersen/ Anderson fam and a week with Ma and Pa Peltz.

The Bahamas was a once in a lifetime trip. We visited our friends Rob and Nadine who are teachers at a boarding school for 16 and 17 year olds from the United States on an Island called Eultheria. The school takes 70 students per semester and teaches them about sustainable living, renewable resources and encourages learning through hands on participation. Seth and I stayed on the campus and enjoyed swimming at least twice a day, snorkeling, biking, running, kayaking and spear fishing. We took a little trip on the kayaks along the very deserted coast (the southern tip of Eultheria is not populated by much besides land crabs and conch shells. Lots of sunshine, 85 degree water and great people (the other teachers at the school were great fun!) Lots of beautiful fish, Seth received one on one scuba lessons and we had our first shark experience, I spose our unborn son did too, which is what crossed my mind when I watched the creature swim underneath me!!

Visiting in WA was great, met Melissa and Gail's new pup, Rum Doodle the Poodle, very cute and full of energy. Enjoyed the warm windy weather, went on a nice hike, windy bike and beautiful boat ride. Mom and I dropped Seth at the airport in Seattle and had a whirlwind shopping trip with excellent maternity pants in the basket and a quick visit with Melissa and Gail.

Few, now to catch up on the chick weed in the garden and the out of control flower beds, one forgets how lush Anchorage is until you leave for a month and can't see you house under the hops plant.

What's up around here?

Not much going on here, just some growing: plant growing, duck growing and baby growing. Seth and I went in to the sonogram place and had the nuchal translucency done today, everything looks good, they will give us the official results tomorrow but it seems our baby most likely does not have Downs Syndrome. We watched it flex it's toes and hands and move all around, wouldn't stay still.

Last week of school around here, they are ripping apart the deck at the Old House and taking electrical off old garage in preparation for tear down.

The triathlon went well, my swim time was once again quite good and my run time embarrassingly slow, but for someone who didn't train to run, even thought she might walk, running the whole time and finishing strong than staying for 5 hours to volunteer seemed pretty dam good and three months pregnant to boot.

Congratulations Don, you done good with the diploma!

Hope your week flies by too.

It's been a long time

Well,

Hard to sum things up so I won't, gets dull anyhow.

Cut to the chase. Breaking news:
Grandma just called, do Seth and I want their telephone booth? Yes, the kind from England, this one is actually from England. Grandparents bid on it via phone and had the 2,000 pound booth shipped up here and put in their mall. Move it to the Old House? Or maybe it could take the place of our front gate, to get into the yard you step into the phone booth? Giant concrete pad underneath the thing makes it a pretty permanent choice no matter what we decide. Any ideas?



Next:
Just home from the doctor and now that the cat is out of the bag I will post a gray smear that is OUR BABY! And it finally looks like a BABY!!! Too amazing to watch the little lime sized critter wiggle it's feet and rub it's eyes like the light is too bright in there. This is one new Mom who can't watch enough of that heartbeat and now the movement, can't feel it but to watch something that is supposedly in you rolling around and kicking, too muchy!!!!





I won't inundate you with gray splotches and smears from now on but it is such a relief to see what looks like a little human, in this picture you can see the head and little torso and two little fistsy things, I saw the individual fingers today, and good news.... no tail. How proud Grandma will be to see our kid has absorbed it's tail, so accomplished already.

Now, a few pictures of the progress on the Old House.




These pictures show the new kitchen and the living room with new hole in the wall and the newly refinished original hardwood floors that are covered with paper, one has to act fast when Seth is in action, will have to take pictures of the floor another time. The Old House is what the family calls the homestead house Grandma and Grandpa built and everyone else added to and now under current ownership of us.

A little Fur Rondy?

Well, February flew by. A house warming party at Ashley's house was great fun, good fireworks and lots of dog mushing. They once again closed the roads downtown and held the sprint dog races through town. It was fun to watch the little fast dogs and than watch the start of the Iditarod with the big long haul dogs and the fancy heavy sleds. Now Seth's favorite musher Sebastian Snuchlle is 2nd and my main man G.B Jones is 46th, dropping 6 places from the starting day, G.B scratched last year in Anchorage, the parade route before the real race even begins so I think that we are doing just fine in 46th, G.B in general looks like he coming off a long bender so him standing on the sled for a few days consecutively is huge. G.B is from Wasilla so go figure, you can't change an old dog's habits.

In other news the chickens are venturing out of the coop and into their run. Garret Silverman must've offended someone, maybe a racial slur or your momma joke in bad taste, she lost a toe nail and received a bloody wound on her neck, I took her in for her typical hospital stay, a quick wash in the faucet and a few hours in the produce box in the shower to cool off. One might point their finger at Lupida for the smackdown, she had a very bloody beak. I don't know who laid this cone shaped egg but it looks more ergonomic, looks like an egg should in my head.

Lastly, two pictures of the new hole in the roof. You might ask yourself why or why are they ripping this house apart, it looks much worse than when it started, and you would be right, really right. This is where the skylight used to be, it wasn't supported by much so it's great it didn't smash me or Don or any of my entire family that once lived in that house at one time.

Now, off to Girdwood for five days of skiing crappy snow in the snow. Should be a good time, Uncle John and Aunt Bonnie and Erin are all up for skiing, I don't know about the rest but it will be awesome times, bringing the projector so we can watch movies on a ten foot screen.

Hope your spring break it also excellent, if you don't have a Spring Break than maybe you should get a job with COLLECTIVE BARGAINING and live the life you were meant to :)

Old House update

Two more pictures to keep you updated on our progress, or de-progress as it looks in these pictures. Chad has been working there and Seth when he has time, really amazing what they have done, or un-done. This is where the kitchen and the bathroom used to be.
More pictures soon...........

Also, on another note I read about this family in a magazine and took a look at their blog, it is an interesting idea, a no waste home. Supposedly they don't throw any trash away, they live in California so I will give it to the lady it seems possible, just time consuming initially. Anyhow maybe you'll like reading the article.
www.sunset.com/zerowastehome

Since we are on our second giant dumpster at the old house and will have to have a bonfire in the spring I will not begin to compare myself to this family, Seth and I are pretty good on our trash impact but remodeling is not a zero waste deal here in the Great Land.

Fur Rondy weekend

It has been cold and clear and windy, windy, windy here! Ashley and Scott had a great house warming party and we watched the fireworks but it is hard to stay outside, so windy.
This week was busy for both of us. Seth had contractor interviews and I hung the Youth Art Month show at the museum, so fun, I will include a few pictures.

On Friday night we headed to Ash's school to watch a high school musical, Hairspray, it was great, we are huge supporters of high school musicals, I am always so impressed with how brave the kids are, they go to school full time and can still put on a great 2 hour plus production!

Today we watched the dogs sprint by through town than walked our own dogs at the dog park in the wind, than warmed up with coffee and sweets at New Sagaya. Ginger has been staying with us, Seth and I adore her and spoil her way too much, even Spy has warmed up to her, eating Ginger's food and sniffing her when Ginger is asleep. Ginger leaves tonight, Dad is back in town and we are back to one feline and 9 birds.

Speaking of birds.... the chickens must be on strike, not a Wisconsin or Egyptian style overthrow power strike than I can tell, unless they are just getting started. maybe Money Penny is upset she can't unionize and Motown is feeling racial strife, maybe the Rooster is mad he still doesn't have a name and because he can tell I spend my free time planning recipes for his fellow brothers in the freezer; just an egg strike. One egg a day, ah I had to borrow an egg from Ashley yesterday so painful. Maybe they spend their free time organizing on twitter and making little signs, Seth and I do run a Autocraticy here, we have been in power for a long time and don't plan on stepping down, we do occasionally use lethal force in the fall and there is never talk of democratic elections. Maybe no egg is imposed sanctions........

The pictures are of Seth and Ginger walking to see the Fur Rondy celebrations, Ginger being a ham, Spy being a ham, the sprint mushers downtown ( $80,000 to the winner this year!) and the museum show I have been hard at work organizing for months.

I post this picture to show you what happened to our kitchen bathroom and bathroom, at the Old House. When I say the Old House I mean the house Seth and I now run, the one I grew up in, the one my dad grew up in, the fracken haus my Grandpa built in the 40s? or late 50s?. Turns out the rot was worse than one might have thought and everything thing had to be ripped out. With one dumpster full we are now ready to put the sub floor back in and wait for the electrician to re-wire everything. Chad is working very, very hard and man is he fast. Seth and I have picked out the new kitchen, bathrooms and carpet and paint, I like that part best. So here it is, just look at the picture below of the of the kitchen and bathroom, oh my.